[Stormy-chan]

Sapphy, on 24 January 2012 - 01:27 AM, said:

This isn't exactly comforting coming from a guest relations rep?

agreed....

[El Ken]

Sapphy, on 24 January 2012 - 01:27 AM, said:

This isn't exactly comforting coming from a guest relations rep?

The thing is... it's really hard to gauge what attendees will think is a fantastic guest. I know who I'd like to see, but that is very different from who, say, my assistants would like to see. Or someone from the Programming section for that matter. I only watch subs, so I have to rely on everyone else for American VA input. My taste in Japanese music is pretty specific as well, and I don't really keep up on any of the really popular anime in the U.S. Therefore, I work off of the Guest Suggestions subforum and input from the people I talk to.

The second big factor in getting guests is cooperation from American licensees. Newer shows that companies like FUNimation, Aniplex of America, et al. release in the U.S. may be undergoing brand marketing campaigns. Promotional events for these shows are well coordinated and generally include several voice actors and/or production staff. It works to everyone's benefit when licensees' brand marketing initiatives and conventions' potential guest lists coincide. We are trying to work this angle this year to bring in about half of ACen's guests.

Lastly, to address HEDGESMFG's theory, I'd have to say that the JPY-USD exchange rate is only a minor factor in the downslide of Japanese guests over the years. Yes, travel costs have skyrocketed the past few years, but that is mostly due to the economy (airline troubles, price of crude, etc.).

I think the focus of the Guest Relations team at ACen has been fuzzy the last several years, and I'm working to bring concrete direction to the team now. Many changes have been made in terms of structure, but shifting the mentality will take time. We are also working hard to improve the convention's reputation within the industry - to show them our clear direction and impact on the fanbase - so that the future brings more opportunity to work with them to bring the biggest names and talents to our humble Hyatt halls.

That said, I think each and every one of our guests this year will be fabulous to some part of the attendee base, but I'm sure the sentiment will not be unanimous. It is my goal to have guests for anyone who is interested in seeing people from industry, be they American VAs, Japanese seiyuu, creators, producers, directors, mangaka, or what-have-you. And we'll get there, but it may not be this year (though, we should come close). I ask that you bear with me for now, and I swear announcements will come sooner once these things are in place.

And as always, thank you all for your input. We work ACen for you after all, and I want you to know we're listening.

tl;dr - There will be fabulous guests; don't you worry. And we're working to get better. Thanks.

[Dave_the_Vagrant]

El Ken, on 24 January 2012 - 01:37 PM, said:

And as always, thank you all for your input. We work ACen for you after all, and I want you to know we're listening.

tl;dr - There will be fabulous guests; don't you worry. And we're working to get better. Thanks.

Well put El Ken. -slow clap-

[LC Asuka]

El Ken, on 24 January 2012 - 01:37 PM, said:

My taste in Japanese music is pretty specific as well, and I don't really keep up on any of the really popular anime in the U.S.

So what you're saying is that we have the a similar stance here. *ponders* I support any and everyone you would love to bring to ACen.

In all seriousness, thank you Ken for not only keeping people as up-to-date as you can, but doing so in a very professional manner. This thread could've easily train-wrecked without any kind of detailed updates, but what you said should definitely give those unaware of the behind-the-scenes aspect of GR the knowledge that acquiring/announcing guests isn't as straightforward as many people think.

Carry on, and I look forward to hearing all the guests we get to look forward to!

[Gabichox]

@Ken - I was really worried about your "<.<" face, to say the least ;w; But seeing your reasoning behind it, I can understand.
Of course, not everyone will be satisfied. Though , I'll be happy if we have at least ONE guest from Japan since cons are really the only way to meet the seiyuu/mangaka/musician I love. Especially as I have no real interest or knowledge in the American side of anime D:
And of course I always love that you actually respond to us as humans and equals rather than a blunt "we can't tell you anything about anything. Be patient hurrrr" type of response. Thank you for letting us know what is going on behind the scenes!!

I will try not to complain as much now... /sits patiently and watches the winter season lineup...

[Lina]

Regarding Japanese guests, this has always confused me. Why does ACen continuously have their convention so close to Golden Week? Don't they realize that it probably hurts the con because it is harder to get Japanese guests? I know there are plenty of people who prefer Japanese guests, but won't go because there aren't enough to interest them. I understand that it's hard to get guests and I understand some of the stuff that goes on behind-the-scenes that non-staff members don't, as well as that ACen books the con years in advance, but is it possible to try to move the convention to mid or late May to get away from Golden Week? Wouldn't that help to get more Japanese guests?

[Animexcel]

Epic post is epic. Thanks, Ken =)

[Valkyrie]

Lina, on 24 January 2012 - 10:03 PM, said:

Regarding Japanese guests, this has always confused me. Why does ACen continuously have their convention so close to Golden Week? Don't they realize that it probably hurts the con because it is harder to get Japanese guests? I know there are plenty of people who prefer Japanese guests, but won't go because there aren't enough to interest them. I understand that it's hard to get guests and I understand some of the stuff that goes on behind-the-scenes that non-staff members don't, as well as that ACen books the con years in advance, but is it possible to try to move the convention to mid or late May to get away from Golden Week? Wouldn't that help to get more Japanese guests?

The thing is, we don't actually intend for that to happen. We're not the only convention to book years in advance - some bigger conventions book as many as 10 years in advance. Plus, we need certain spaces to be open for our con, but if some are already reserved for a different event (whether it be a very important meeting, or a wedding, etc.), then we have to look at different dates. And unfortunately, May is a very busy time of year for hotels and convention halls alike. ^^;

[Lina]

Valkyrie, on 25 January 2012 - 05:44 AM, said:

The thing is, we don't actually intend for that to happen. We're not the only convention to book years in advance - some bigger conventions book as many as 10 years in advance. Plus, we need certain spaces to be open for our con, but if some are already reserved for a different event (whether it be a very important meeting, or a wedding, etc.), then we have to look at different dates. And unfortunately, May is a very busy time of year for hotels and convention halls alike. ^^;

And I know that there are other conventions and events that book years in advance, but it is just very frustrating because guests are a huge part of the con experience for me. I suppose I shouldn't make a big deal out of it since this will most likely be my last ACen since I'm fed up with the con and will be moving on to better conventions. Of course that is my opinion.

[El Ken]

Lina, on 24 January 2012 - 10:03 PM, said:

Regarding Japanese guests, this has always confused me. Why does ACen continuously have their convention so close to Golden Week? Don't they realize that it probably hurts the con because it is harder to get Japanese guests? I know there are plenty of people who prefer Japanese guests, but won't go because there aren't enough to interest them. I understand that it's hard to get guests and I understand some of the stuff that goes on behind-the-scenes that non-staff members don't, as well as that ACen books the con years in advance, but is it possible to try to move the convention to mid or late May to get away from Golden Week? Wouldn't that help to get more Japanese guests?

And to more properly address this, we always try for mid- to late-May. We do sign the contracts years ahead of time to attempt to accomplish this, but the coordination between the Hyatt and the DESCC sometimes forces us to dates we would not prefer. And honestly, the dates for 2012 was an oversight on the part of the Board of Directors (who negotiate the dates). We really need to avoid overlapping Golden Week and preferably move to a later date (if needed) to avoid end of semester crams and college finals as well.

On a side note, I wonder why ACen staff always take such a defensive posture when talking about our mistakes and shortcomings. We all need to own up and talk about solutions rather than provide excuses.

[opimus.rm]

That's an easy one to answer. Ego.

[Lina]

El Ken, on 25 January 2012 - 10:07 AM, said:

And to more properly address this, we always try for mid- to late-May. We do sign the contracts years ahead of time to attempt to accomplish this, but the coordination between the Hyatt and the DESCC sometimes forces us to dates we would not prefer. And honestly, the dates for 2012 was an oversight on the part of the Board of Directors (who negotiate the dates). We really need to avoid overlapping Golden Week and preferably move to a later date (if needed) to avoid end of semester crams and college finals as well.

On a side note, I wonder why ACen staff always take such a defensive posture when talking about our mistakes and shortcomings. We all need to own up and talk about solutions rather than provide excuses.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! I am glad that a staff member is realizing this. I have been tired of this con getting so defensive when people complain/criticize the con. The attitude of some staff members is just awful. You are probably the best staff member because you own up to your mistakes and take the time to respond nicely. You don't have a nasty attitude which is why I can respect you. Many attendees want to help the con change by giving criticism and it saddens me that many staff members get defensive. All they want to hear is praise. You can't fix anything if you can't give any negative criticism. I understand some attendees have nasty attitudes, but not everyone does.

[Gabichox]

^ Absolutely a thousand times agree with everything above.
It sucks especially when the problems only gets worse because instead of listening to us some staff just put up a defense about why we shouldn't be complaining in the first place.
But at the risk of sounding like I'm trying to tear down acen with 'insults' I'll stop there XD

[The Archfiend]

El Ken, on 25 January 2012 - 10:07 AM, said:

On a side note, I wonder why ACen staff always take such a defensive posture when talking about our mistakes and shortcomings. We all need to own up and talk about solutions rather than provide excuses.

I can tell you right now that this attitude (seen it here, at the con and as a former staffer myself) you're writing about - along with the fact that I may have to choose between going to this and Worldcon/Chicon in late August - is one of the primary reasons that I'm not particularly enthused with the idea of going to Acen this year.

[El Ken]

I guess I opened a can of worms there, eh? At any rate, that attitude is one of the reasons why I have always been very critical and protective of my areas of the forums - previously with Hotel/Convention Center and now with Guest Relations... I simply will not allow it (makes me glad I've been able to keep my admin status on the forums).

Well, we've gotten a little off topic here, but it's something that needs to be addressed. I'm going to speak with our Chief of Staff about it, and maybe she can put together a little bit of training to stop us from biting the hands that feed us, so to speak.

[Krystal]

I like you. My friends and I have been complaining about this defensiveness for about two years now. I think that the attendees would be FAR more willing to accept convention mistakes if some higher ups didn't think they were so entitled to our unrequited respect.

[The Archfiend]

opimus.rm, on 25 January 2012 - 01:27 PM, said:

That's an easy one to answer. Ego.

...or an ongoing policy by certain (and by "certain" I don't necessarily mean all) staffers to either pass the buck or pull the "nothing to see here - move along" card when certain inconvenient questions got brought up too many times in the past. Seeing as you were the target of at least one forum suspension for a fairly innocuous reason (read: you were getting too snarky for a mod's liking), Dave, you should know how the tune of that particular song goes.

This post has been edited by The Archfiend: 25 January 2012 - 06:11 PM

[The Archfiend]

Krystal, on 25 January 2012 - 05:54 PM, said:

I like you. My friends and I have been complaining about this defensiveness for about two years now. I think that the attendees would be FAR more willing to accept convention mistakes if some higher ups didn't think they were so entitled to our unrequited respect.

For an example, I could bring up the Reg computers crashing due to the DDoS attack a few years ago and how many (expletive) hours that made people stand in line, but I won't. Honest.

(If I'm not mistaken, The IT guys who let that happen were shown the door after that fiasco, so at least I'm happy about something The Powers That Be did to remedy a situation.)

[narfness]

Lina, on 17 January 2012 - 10:49 PM, said:

It's good to know that you aren't happy with what is going on and aren't making any excuses. I hope things get worked out because I would love to know the guest list.

I wanted to second this, and all the other praise for the openness and understanding shown here. It gives me a lot of hope for ACen when I was beginning to lose it. If we can all agree there is a problem, then things can only get better I'd hope. I'm sure you've thought of this, but just as a constructive comment I feel it might help to look at where other cons succeed and fail at this, maybe inject some external ideas/staff from other cons into the process. It's not like there's an AT Field around Chicago. (Just the Field Museum... and Marshall Field's)

As far as Japanese guests go, we're smaller and farther from Japan than AX, but shouldn't we be at least... a third as good, numerically, in that department, if we take all those things into account? Or are there different priorities on a higher-level? I'm not trying to complain, in fact if you say the root of the problem is "we need volunteers, there's too much grunt work," sign me up!

[linlindesu]

What I never really understood ( and everyone will say it is the fault of Golden Week or w/e) but how does sakura con, a convention much smaller than Acen ( by around 4000-5000 people) manage to get fabulous foreign guests?
Both the bigger and smaller cons tend to get the better guests ;__; how do they do this black magic??!

[GITS SAC Motoko]

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but one thing that is huge is that a lot of conventions are backed by corporate funding with sponsors. This huge amount of money allows a lot of cons (I'm not sure if SakuraCon is, but I'm just going off the fact they an get SO many Japanese/foreign guests) and all the money allows the con to buy these people and pay. Because it costs a TON to get the guests out here. Travel expenses, food, hotel costs, etc and coming all the way from Japan or across the pond is sadly not cheap. And ACEN (at least as far as I know) does not have any corporate funding so it is harder due to prices, unfortunately. They go off how much money made from badges, dealers, artists and other incomes.

[linlindesu]

Sakura Con is a non profit
Otakon is a non profit.
The only truly for profit, sponsored the hell out of, anime convention is AX. Though they sold their soul for Morning Musume and Hatsune Miku, which I think is quite a fair trade :x

See, but the whole "it's expensive just to get them over here" mentality can't be entirely valid. I'm not saying it is cheap, but a lot of the DJs come from japan so that makes no sense.

I'm just weirded out that there isn't even a single guest on the page. Cons months after us have at least a few. Kinda scary o__0

[El Ken]

Honestly, I don't think it's really that much of a cost issue. For really huge guests, like a popular Japanese band, sponsorship would help pay for the venue and performance fees, but for the most part there really shouldn't be anything stopping us from getting big names from Japan (in normal years).

What I think it comes down to is the relationships we have with Japanese promoters and companies. That is to say, we at ACen need to do a better job forging and maintaining those relationships abroad. In the US, we can directly invite a lot of the guests, and that does apply to some of the Japanese guests as well, but for the most part, we will need to work with a promoter or management company to bring talent from overseas. I know for certain part of ACen's issues have to do with the fact that none of the GR management are fluent in Japanese. We can't conduct business in Japanese, so we have to work through an intermediate. I would really like to resolve that issue, but meanwhile we're working to improve our relations in Japan with the resources we have.

And this was brought up earlier... we're also working to improve our relations with other conventions in the U.S., from a Guest Relations perspective. We've collaborated on guests a couple times, and I'd like to increase the number of GR representatives attending other cons for outreach and networking purposes. And, of course, some of our staff also staff other conventions.

In short, I'm trying to stress the relations part of Guest Relations and actually would like to rename it to Guest & Industry Relations to better reflect the direction I'm taking it. Keep the comments coming. I'm sure there are ideas out there I haven't thought of yet.

Thanks!

[linlindesu]

I know you already heard this a million times, but thank you for owning up to the flaws of guest relations El Ken.

How fluent in japanese do you want/need GR staff to be?

[El Ken]

linlindesu, on 01 February 2012 - 10:25 AM, said:

How fluent in japanese do you want/need GR staff to be?

Enough to properly conduct business in Japanese. That includes both written and verbal communication with use of polite and humble forms. Obviously, knowledge of industry jargon would be helpful.

At the same time, the person would also need to communicate well in English, both written and spoken. Oh, I should like the person, too.

[Dark Stranger]

Ok. As much as we do get annoyed in the delays with the japanese guests, I'm still confused as to why there isn't even a single american guest annoucment to at least tide us over. I mean we know there shouldn't be the exact same amount of hassle as a japanese guest as a american one....unless there is only japanese guests this year for some reason.

[El Ken]

Dark Stranger, on 04 February 2012 - 05:21 PM, said:

Ok. As much as we do get annoyed in the delays with the japanese guests, I'm still confused as to why there isn't even a single american guest annoucment to at least tide us over. I mean we know there shouldn't be the exact same amount of hassle as a japanese guest as a american one....unless there is only japanese guests this year for some reason.

That is a completely valid argument. We should have had several American guests announced already, and that goes back to my frustrations mentioned earlier. My assistant in charge of acquiring guests has been spotty in his performance this year. And though I know that shouldn't be any of your concern, I've been torn on the best way to approach the situation and what corrective measures can and should be made.

Now, that being said, I've had some very good discussion with him about the direction I want to take Anime Central with regard to guests, and he's in agreement with me. I've also seen some recent, marked increase in his work to bring in guests, and that makes me feel a whole lot better.

So while this has been going on, I've taken it upon myself to handle musical and fashion guests personally. Tonight you will see our first guest announcement - a Japanese band. I'm in the final stages of getting the fashion guests set and am in talks with a second musical group. Those announcements should follow soon along with several American guests, assuming the work I've been seeing continues.

Lastly, to interested fashionistas, we will be opening fashion show model applications soon. I can't say too much, but there should be more than one Japanese style represented at ACen this year. Please look forward to those announcements!

Sorry the turn around in Guest Relations hasn't been faster. But as I've said in this and other threads, I'm working to correct the issues and shortcomings. We will steadily improve; that is my pledge to ACen, and most importantly, to you, the attendees.

And thanks, as always, for your feedback. I truly appreciate everyone sticking with us!

[Ashori]

Ooo, so we get a band announcement tonight? Yay! ^^ And can't wait to see what American guests we get.

[Ohki]

Let me be honest; if ACen's guest relations department continues such horridly shoddy work like this, the con is probably going to lose my attendance in the very near future. I'm tired of this. As someone who lives as far from the con as I do, ACen is a huge financial commitment for me. If the con is going to continue to not bother with guests like this, it's going to be too much of a financial commitment for me to be willing to make, since I'll be heading to college this fall. If ACen can't be bothered to actually try to get some worthwhile guests, I'm not going to bother to scrape together the cash and get the time off from classes for it.

Ken, thank you for being a staffer who is actually honest with us, and who doesn't get defensive and snap at us the second we bring up our concerns. I'm a biiiiit sick of other staffers guilt tripping us for having complaints. Thank you for being like that. But to be quite honest? It's not enough. ALL of the staffers need to be like this. Because, aside from guests, another reason I'm starting to think this con isn't worth my money? I feel like, as a whole, the staff doesn't care what the attendees want. Every year we get guilt tripped for even asking for the con to consider moving so it's not so close to college finals or Mother's Day or Golden Week. Concerns about this are always voiced, and it's always that same line about how we can't because the contract is made in advance, and because you're afraid of being too close to A-Kon, etc, and always with that same "how dare you even ask?" tone. That tone is present with most staffers when most concerns are mentioned, and I am completely and utterly sick of it. Thank you for being different, Ken. Everyone else on the staff should be emulating you.

This post has been edited by Ohki: 05 February 2012 - 02:40 PM

[AcidAlice]

I hope there are more guest announcements before April. I want to know who is coming.